Niccolò Pisani

Niccolò Pisani, (flourished 14th century), Venetian admiral, renowned for his victories in the third war between the feuding republics of Venice and Genoa (1350–55).

In 1350 Pisani led a squadron to Constantinople (now Istanbul) to conclude an alliance with the Byzantines. At the mouth of the Bosporus he engaged in a fierce battle with the Genoese, defeating the distinguished admiral Paganino Doria (1352). A year later, surprising the Genoese fleet, he sank 33 enemy galleys and took 4,500 prisoners, who were later executed. In November 1354, however, Doria surprised him at Portolungo, near Greece. The Genoese admiral’s audacity and tactical skill enabled him to capture Pisani and his entire fleet. Pisani was released when the two cities made peace (May 1355), and he spent the rest of his life in obscurity.